Cargo on a car carrier ship docked at the Port of Hueneme is offloaded Monday morning. Car carriers, since they tend to come in to port at all hours, will be most affected by the limited hours of customs agents due to sequestration, officials said.

Ventura County Star

Bananas from Costa Rica are offloaded from a ship at the Port of Hueneme Monday.

Ventura County Star

Cargo on a car carrier ship docked at the Port of Hueneme is offloaded Monday morning. Car carriers, since they tend to come in to port at all hours, will be most affected by the limited hours of customs agents due to sequestration, officials said.

Ventura County Star

Shipping companies that use the Port of Hueneme scrambled for a fix Monday as U.S. Customs and Border Protection cutbacks held up cargo inspections, causing 103 paid dockworkers to sit waiting.

CBP inspectors must screen all cargo ships for materials that terrorists might try to smuggle into the United States, but the local CBP district cut inspectors’ overtime shifts Friday, the start of the federal government’s $85 billion budget sequestration.

That change was felt Monday morning when a ship carrying BMWs, Maseratis, Jaguars, Range Rovers, Rolls-Royces, Aston Martins and other vehicles arrived at the port. Unloading was delayed 40 minutes because the ship got there before CBP inspectors were scheduled to start working, so dockworkers stood idle.

On Tuesday, a Del Monte Fresh Produce ship will similarly be held up as labor has been scheduled outside the CBP’s approved working hours.

“I have to hire the labor and pay them while I wait for customs to clear the vessel, so sometimes I can’t do anything,” said Del Monte’s port manager, Chuck Caulkins.

Company officials say paying for a few CBP workers’ overtime would cost less than paying 100 longshoremen to stand around waiting for the inspections to be completed. Port administrators estimate Monday’s delay cost the shipping company at least $5,000 in labor alone, whereas overtime for the CBP officers would likely have cost a few hundred dollars.

Shipping lines are offering to pay overtime, said Kristin Decas, executive director of the Port of Hueneme, but, “Customs has come back and said that’s against the law.”

Decas said now may be time to revisit that law and find ways to have more of a public/private partnership.

She met with customs officials in Long Beach on Monday afternoon, and they agreed to meet with stakeholders at the Port of Hueneme at the end of this week.

The delays are having a major effect on the port, said Michael Wynn Song, senior executive vice president of Global Auto Processing Services.

“I think Congress should come up with some flexible tools or a mechanism that will allow businesses to pay for the overtime rather than delaying commerce,” he said.

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, said across-the-board cuts are harmful and that the effects are already visible at the ports.

“I’m hopeful that as House leadership hears stories like this one from Port Hueneme it will reconsider its position and work across the aisle to create a balanced plan,” she said.

Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Oak Park, said Congress must act responsibly and thoughtfully so that the economic recovery is not undermined.

“Ventura County’s ports are a critical piece of our local economy, and we must act now to minimize the impact these cuts will have on our local gateways of commerce,” she said.

Ships that dock at the Port of Hueneme are often delayed by weather and periodically arrive on Saturdays, so the port depends on flexibility in CBP inspections.

BMW will be significantly affected without the ability to process vehicles on Saturdays, according to Al Cardona, manager of the BMW distribution center.

“I’m meeting with my manager today in South Carolina to discuss what we can do from our side because of course it affects us nationwide,” he said Monday. BMW’s U.S. production facility is in South Carolina.

The budget sequestration’s effect on maritime commerce varies depending on the port, with overtime reductions calculated by the local CBP port director, according to a spokesman with the World Shipping Council, a shipping trade association.

At the Port of Long Beach, which has significantly more CBP officers than Hueneme does, spokesman Daniel Yi said they are less concerned about overtime cuts and more concerned that furloughs will take effect in mid-April.

“Obviously we are all worried because the longer this goes it has a serious impact on the economy,” he said.

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles combined handle 40 percent of container traffic in the country, move $300 billion worth of cargo annually and support 5,000 jobs.

“If things start getting backlogged here at the port, that’s going to have a ripple effect, and everyone’s watching that closely, and we’re very concerned about that,” Yi said.